


Pillow Talk

by NiceOneJames



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Hogwarts Sixth Year, Marauders, Marauders' Era, Mutual Pining, Oneshot, Pre-Relationship, Sharing a Bed, jily
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-18
Updated: 2018-02-18
Packaged: 2019-03-20 17:16:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13722360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NiceOneJames/pseuds/NiceOneJames
Summary: Lily Evans has a bad habit of dozing off in the Marauders' dorm. At first, it's accidental. But when a certain messy-haired Quidditch Captain finds her in the Common Room at an ungodly hour, he makes her an offer she can't bring herself to refuse. Sharing a bed won't be weird, because they're just friends...right?





	Pillow Talk

**Author's Note:**

> None of these nerds belong to me, tragically.
> 
> Enjoy!

  
She hadn’t meant to do it.

  
The first time Lily Evans fell asleep in the Marauders’ dorm had been entirely by accident. She and Remus had been pouring over their Charms assignment into the early hours of the morning, and then suddenly she was being jostled awake as he tried to sneak out of bed.

“Sorry, Lily. I tried not to wake you,” he’d whispered sheepishly. She’d sat bolt upright, her hair sticking up in all directions, and squinted at him in the semi-darkness of the warm room.

“What time is it?” she’d groaned.

“Somewhere ‘round 6 AM.”

“Merlin,” she’d grumbled, forcing the sleep from her eyes and grabbing her things as quietly as she could. “I didn’t mean to stay so late.”

“It’s alright, I think we both needed the sleep,” he said. Lily nodded a little in response and stood, picking her shoes up and sneaking to the door. “See you later.”

With half of a wave, she’d left, a small smile tugging at her mouth at the snores coming from behind James’ drapes.

The second time had also been an accident. Sirius had invited her up for a game of Exploding Snap and some smuggled-in firewhisky, and, as things often did when Sirius was involved, it had quickly gotten out of hand. This time, it was Sirius’ bed she’d fallen asleep in. She was wasted and exhausted, and he’d offered.

The next morning she’d awoken with a terrible headache and James smirking down at them from the foot of Sirius’ bed, toothbrush hanging crookedly from his mouth. Although Sirius grumbled sleepily in protest, she’d quickly disentangled herself from him and pushed past the smirking Quidditch Captain with as much faux-contempt as she could muster on so little sleep.

This time, however, Lily could not say she was entirely innocent.

She’d had a nightmare. The kind of nightmare that left her shaking and hot; flashes of green and too-real screams. Not wanting to wake her friends up, the redhead had gingerly crept from their room and down the stairs to the Common Room. Pulling her robe tighter, she plopped down onto the couch and opened the book sitting on the table— _275 Practical Uses for Pepperup Potion: The Broke Witch’s Guide to Getting By_ —to peruse the table of contents. _Perfect, this will put me right back to sleep_.

"Alright, Evans?”

Jumping at the voice directly over her shoulder, Lily turned to glare half-heartedly at the dark-haired man reading over her shoulder. James Potter squinted at the text with a small frown.

“Why are you reading about potions at 3 AM?” he teased.

“I could ask you the same question,” she answered, continuing to peruse the book leisurely. James plopped down opposite her and raised an eyebrow. She sighed. “I had a nightmare.”

“Hate to break it to you, but Pepperup Potions don’t help with insomnia,” he quipped after a long moment.

“Maybe not, but did you know that it can ‘stand in for three meals a week without any provable side-effects?’” Lily grinned from over the top of the large book.

“Bullshit.”

“Excuse me,” she gasped, clutching the book to her chest in fake-indignation, “are you questioning _The Broke Witch’s Guide to Getting By_?”

“Even if you could—which you can’t—why would anyone drink Pepperup Potion instead of eating? It’s dreadful,” he said.

“Clearly, you just don’t have a refined palate,” she sniffed. A pillow soared through the air and hit her square in the face. Laughing, she chucked it back at him. He caught it with ease, the corners of his mouth upturned slightly at the sight of her. “Alright, alright, I take it back. I had no idea you were so sensitive about it.”

“I’ll have you know that I am renowned far and wide for my good taste,” he said, running a hand through his already tousled hair and propping his feet up on the table between them.

“Chugging firewhisky doesn’t make you a sommelier, James,” Lily laughed. He perked up a little at the use of his first name, his small smile growing into a crooked grin.

“Not with that attitude.”

After a moment of comfortable silence he stood, pushed his glasses up, and held a hand out to her. She frowned, looking up at him.

“Well, are you coming?” he asked. “You can’t stay up all night, and you certainly can’t sleep down here.”

“So forward, Potter.”

He rolled his eyes, but she didn’t miss the faint blush that crept up his neck and kissed the tops of his ears.

“I’ll sleep on the floor if it makes you feel better. Besides, it wouldn’t exactly be the first night you’ve spent in our dorm,” he said. Lily examined him for a long moment, and his hand had just begun to droop when she snapped the book shut and dropped it back onto the table. As she stood, her hand slid into his. His palms were calloused, she assumed from years of Quidditch— _now is not the time to think of Potter and his broomstick—_ and she had to fight to ignore the electricity that pulsed from the warm skin of his hand into her fingertips. The contact was gone as soon as it arrived, and the redhead wasn’t sure if it was relief or disappointment that bloomed in the pit of her stomach.

“Right. C’mon then, Evans,” James breathed after a moment, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed hard. He turned and began towards the stairs. Green eyes stuck to the muscles of his back beneath his thin shirt for only a moment before she forced herself into motion, following him. It was innocent, and she knew it. And yet, there was something about following James Potter up to his room at an ungodly hour that made lightning crackle through Lily’s veins.

They reached the top and the brunet eased the door open gently, just enough for them to slip inside. He grabbed one of the pillows from his bed, and was about to drop it on the ground when she sent him a withering look. He cocked an eyebrow.

“I’m not making you sleep on the floor,” she whispered. Sirius’ snores stuttered and they both froze. When they restarted, she turned back to him.

“It’s fine,” he mouthed overenthusiastically.

Lily reached down and pulled the covers back, pointing meaningfully between him and the bed. He smirked crookedly and held his hands up in defeat, putting the pillow back in place next to its twin. Pulling her curls loose and letting her robe fall to the floor, she slid carefully between the red and gold sheets, their shoulders bumping as he joined her. It was a tight fit, for sure, but somehow it didn’t bother her to be so close to him. There was something very intimate about the situation; wrapped in a smell that was so distinctly him, the bare skin of their arms brushing slightly with every movement.

“G’night, Evans,” James murmured after a moment, his eyes already dropping shut. She swallowed hard and nodded, shifting slightly in an attempt to get comfortable. Just as she had begun to relax, an ungodly snort emanated from Sirius’ bed. At first, Lily jumped, startled by the loud noise. Then, her shoulders began to shake, and she had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing out loud. She turned to see James, staring wide-eyed up at the ceiling, the corner of his mouth quivering from effort to keep silent. They met eyes, and Lily knew it was over. James cracked, a sputtering laugh escaping from between his tightly-pressed lips. In horror, he smacked his hand over his mouth, which only made Lily want to laugh more. Desperately, she shoved her face in the crook of his shoulder, rolling onto her side. His hand moved to her back reflexively, as if to stop them from rolling off the bed while the earthquake of their shared laughter jostled them closer to the edge. It surprised Lily how natural this felt to her: the two of them pressed together in bed, his hand on her back. A strange feeling squirmed in her gut.

The shaking of her shoulders subsided and she realized just how close they were when she lifted her face and found herself only inches from his. Warm breath skimmed her cheek and she worried her lower lip between white teeth; he didn’t miss this action, judging by the way his eyes bounced down to her mouth briefly.

“Sorry,” she breathed. In the darkness, she saw one of his eyebrows quirk upwards.

“For what?”

She shrugged a little, propping up onto one elbow in attempt to put some distance between them. Somehow, it seemed to bring their faces closer. Lily hovered over him for what felt like an eternity, suddenly entranced with the curve of his dark lashes, the molten gold of his eyes. The faint red marks from where his glasses typically perched on his nose. It seemed odd to her that they were there at all, considering how often the offending spectacles slid and fidgeted up and down his nose, and yet there they were. She found their very existence intriguing and somehow charming.

Without thinking, she found her eyes drifting down to his mouth. It was then she realized he had said something.

“What?” she asked after a moment. He chuckled.

“I said, ‘the longer you look at me like that, the bigger my ego gets.’”

“Like what?” she frowned. In lieu of answering, James batted his eyelashes and puckered his lips cartoonishly before breaking into a wide grin. Lily rolled her eyes half-heartedly, grateful it was dark so he wouldn’t see the pink tinge in her cheeks, and swatted his arm.

“Shove off, Potter.”

“Excuse me, Evans, but _you_ are the one in _my_ bed,” he laughed, eyebrows raised in fake shock.

“You know, the Common Room couches are sounding more appealing by the minute,” she said, sitting up and moving to stand. He caught her arm and she stilled. Turning back, she was surprised to see that he’d sat up and was once again only inches away. Silently, he let go of her arm, his hand moving instead to tuck a dark curl behind her ear. Feeling like her heart was going to burst from her chest, Lily swallowed, but found herself leaning closer to him in spite of herself. They were only a breath away now, his hazel eyes half-lidded as he regarded her. Lily felt as if she were in a fog. Fingers itching to lace themselves in his raven hair, she moved to close the gap between them, their lips finally—

A loud snore shook them from their stupor and Lily pulled back, face hot.

“We should probably get some sleep,” James said after a moment. She nodded, sliding back down onto the pillow and under the covers.

“Good night, James,” she whispered, shaky fingers clutching the sheets. Her mind raced, trying to process what had just happened—rather, almost happened—and why a part of her was disappointed that it hadn’t.

Once Lily’s breathing evened out, and she found solace in sleep, James’ eyes drifted from the painted stars on the ceiling to the constellations of her freckles. It had never occurred to him that they continued across her shoulders. A part of him wondered if they continued down her stomach, if galaxies painted her spine all the way down. Forcing the image from his mind, he turned away from her, back to the starry ceiling that he’d found captivating as a child. Now, they seemed to pale in comparison to her. He sighed a little. Allowing himself to relax next to her, he relished the warmth that radiated from her arm. James Potter drifted off to sleep, where he dreamt of galaxies, and fields of lilies nestled at the feet of emerald-green forests. Before the blissful quiet of sleep overtook him, he murmured to the woman next to him, even though he knew she could no longer hear him.

“Night, love.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed the first of what will hopefully be many forays into the world of the Marauders. Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave a comment!


End file.
